Baseball team heads to the Land of Lincoln

at MacMurry: Live Stats | at Blackburn: Live | at Millikin: Live Stats | Video

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: UW-Stout  (2-0, 0-0 WIAC) will travel to The Land of Lincoln - the state of Illinois - and are scheduled to play three doubleheaders starting this weekend. Stout is scheduled to play at MacMurray College (2-5, 0-0 SLIAC), Saturday, March 23 in a doubleheader beginning at noon in Jacksonville, Ill., then will be at Blackburn College (2-9, 0-0 SLIAC), for a noon showdown Sunday, March 24, followed by a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Millikin University (1-7, 0-0 CCIW) in Decatur, Ill., Monday, March 25.

All three teams have at least three more games scheduled before they meet Stout. The Millikin games were just added to the schedule this week. There is no record that Stout has ever played Blackburn or Millikin on the baseball diamonds since at least 1987, but did play MacMurray during the 1995 season, dropping both ends of a doubleheader, 6-1, 11-7. Stout was scheduled to play at Gustavus Adolphus College, March 16-17, but those games have been postponed. 

THE BLUE DEVILS IN PREVIEW: UW-Stout's seven WIAC wins a year ago were the most since accumulating 10 victories during the 2014 campaign. The Blue Devils bring back eight starting position players from last season's group, including Jordan Wilson, who led the squad with a .327 batting average, 12 doubles, 34 RBI and 23 runs scored. Jack Donahue had a team-high 60.0 innings pitched, while Brad Rindfleisch was second with a 2.91 earned run average and 33 strikeouts. Stout will return starters at every position except right field. Six seniors - all-conference outfielder Jordan Wilson, catcher Tim Bott, infielder Jared Jarvensivu and pitchers Brad Rindfleisch, Casey Ryan and Jack Donahue - provide a solid group of leaders. | Complete Season Preview. | 2019 Statistics

UW-STOUT LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils opened the season by sweeping Principia College, 15-0, 8-3, March 8. The March 9 game was postponed and will probably not be made up. Stout tallied 27 total hits over the two games and three Blue Devil pitchers recorded 29 total strikeouts. In the opener, Jack Donahue went the full seven innings, allowing four hits and chalking up 10 strikeouts to give Stout the 15-0 shutout to open the season. The Blue Devils, who pounded out 16 hits, recorded five doubles. Jordan Wilson was 2 of 5 with three RBI. After three innings, the game was scoreless, but Stout scored three in the fourth, one in the fifth, four in the sixth and seven in the seventh. In the nine-inning nightcap, Wilson delivered a three-run home run in the eighth inning as Stout recorded 11 hits in game two. Brad Rindfleisch worked the first five innings and recorded 11 strikeouts. | Game Story and Stats 

WIAC PRESEASON: UW-Stout is picked to finish fifth in the WIAC, according to a preseason poll conducted by the conference. UW-Whitewater was picked to win the conference, followed by UW-Oshkosh, UW-La Crosse, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Stout, UW-Platteville and WIAC newcomer Finlandia University.

2019 TEAM CAPTAINS: Team captains for the 2019 season are seniors Jared Jarvensivu, Jordan Wilson, Jack Donahue and junior Ben Vanhove. Jarvensivu and Wilson are team captains for the second consecutive year..

AWARDS AND HONORS: 2019: Jordan Wilson was selected as the WIAC athlete of the week after driving in six runs in a sweep over Principia College to open the season...2018: Jordan Wilson was a first team all-WIAC selection. Brad Rindfleisch, Kasey Bass, Jon Krueger, and Ben Vanhove were honorable mention selections...Jordan Wilson was the WIAC athlete of the week after his performance against UW-Platteville to close out the season...Brad Rindfleisch was selected the UW-Stout/Toppers Pizza Athlete of the Week, April 17, after throwing eight innings and allowing only one run in an eventual 14-inning loss to UW-Stevens Point, April 11.

THREE HOME RUNS IN A SINGLE GAME:
Noah Brown vs. UW-Stevens Point, May 5, 2017 (W 6-0) 3-for-5, 4 RBI
Brad O'Connell vs. Albion College, March 15, 2001 (W 14-7) 5-for-5, 8 RBI

COACHES: Ben Kincaid (22-54) is in his third year as the Blue Devils' head coach, following two years as a Blue Devil assistant coach where he worked primarily with the pitchers. Kincaid played collegiately at at Minnesota State University-Mankato, where he was a four year letter winner, playing in 149 games. He finished with a .339 batting average, 38 doubles (5th on MSU's career list), six home runs and 140 runs batted in (6th on MSU's career list). As a righthanded pitcher he sported a 14-8 record with a 3.45 earned run average and had 148 strikeouts in 172 innings pitched. Kincaid was named to the All-Central Region team three times in his career. An Eau Claire native, Kincaid played for the local Eau Claire Express.

2018 BLUE DEVILS: Stout finished the 2018 season at 10-27 overall, 7-17 in the WIAC. | 2018 Statistics

DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils are scheduled to open the WIAC schedule when they play at UW-Platteville, Saturday, March 30 and Sunday, March 31. Stout is scheduled to open the home portion of their schedule by hosting Finlandia University, Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7. All conference dates are scheduled to be nine-inning doubleheaders.